Screw-actuated vise having releasable nut for quickly opening or closing the jaws



March 27', 1951 A. M. SASGEN ET AL 2,546,906

SCREW-ACTUATED VISE HAVING RELEASABLE NUT FOR QUICKLY OPENING OR CLOSING THE JAWS Filed Nov. 50, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet l Arrozzmsvs March 27, 1951 A. M. SASGEN ET AL 2,546,906

SCREW-ACTUATED VISE HAVING RELEASABLE NUT F OR QUICKLY OPENING OR CLOSING THE JAWS Filed Nov. 30, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Mar. 27, 1951 SCREW-ACTUATED VISE HAVING RELEAS- ABLE NUT FOR QUICKLY OPENING OR CLOSING THE JAWS Anthony M. Sasgen, Chicago, and Fred P. Hopfeld, Elmwood Park, 111., assignors to Grand Specialties Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application November 30, 1945, Serial No. 631,962

3 Claims.

This invention relates to vises and particularly to vises of the character wherein a relatively rigid base and a movable clamping member have opposed clamping jaws thereon between which pieces of work may be secured.

In the production of Vises of the character to which the present invention relates, it is essential that the elements of the vises be efliciently constructed and designed so as to attain maximum strength in such parts while avoiding the use of excessive amounts of material, and to enable this to be accomplished is an important object of the present invention.

Another object is to afford a novel vise of the aforementioned type wherein a movable jaw member is supported by, and may be quickly and easily adjusted relative to, a stationary jaw member in a novel and expeditious manner.

Other and further objects of the present invention will be apparent from the following description and claims as illustrated in the accompanying drawings which, by way of illustration show preferred embodiments and the principle thereof and what we now consider to be the best mode in which we have contemplated applying that principle. Other embodiments of the invention embodying the same or equivalent principle may be used and structural changes may be made as desired by those skilled in the art without departing from the present invention and the purview of the appended claims.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a vise embodying the features of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a front elevational view of the vise;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially along the line 33 of Fig. 1 but with parts broken away at the lower right hand corner to give a fragmentary sectional view of the vise mount;

Fig. 3A is an enlarged portion of Fig. '3 and is taken substantially on the line 3A3A of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional view taken substantially along the line 4-4 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a horizontal sectional view taken substantially along the line 5-5 in Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is a fragmental vertical sectional view taken substantially along the line tt in Fig. 5;

Fig. '7 is a horizontal sectional view showing the mounting base which forms a part of the vise when it is desired to enable rotative adjustment of the vise, the view being taken substan tially along the line '!1 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 8 is a front elevational view of the basic form of vise showing the same as it is mounted 2 when the body of the vise is to remain in a fixed position.

iii?

In the form chosen for disclosure in Figs. 1 to 8 the vise of the present invention is illustrated as comprising a main body in having a stationary jaw l i formed thereon in an upstanding relationship and having a slide l2 movably mounted on the body lit so that a movable jaw l3 carried on the slide l2 may be moved toward and away from the stationary jaw I l. The movement of the slide I2 is effected by means including a screw device hi that acts between the slide l2 and thebody l0, and the body iii is adapted to be mounted on a base it in such a manner that the body may be adjusted about a vertical axis on the base 55 and may be secured in any adjusted rotative position by means including clamping screws 56. Under the present invention, the body it] may be mounted for rotative adjustment on the base [5, as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, or may be directly mounted upon a work bench or the like in a fixed position as illustrated in Fig. 8.

The body In is constructed in the form of a casting, which is elongated in a horizontal direction, and throughout the major portion of its length, the casting is formed by a pair of downwardly and outwardly sloping walls 28 that are best shown in Figs. 2 to 5, these walls being connected at their upper ends as shown at 29A in Fig. 3 so that this main portion of the body takes an inverted V-shaped form. Adjacent its forward end, the casting has an upwardly extended arm 21 upon the upper end of which the jaw i2 is formed. Just rearwardly of the arm portion 2 i, the casting is formed with a relatively wide and fiat extension that affords an anvil 22, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, that terminates at its rear end portion in a narrow end 22A. 7

At its forward end and beneath the arm 2! and the anvil 22, the casting that afiords the body it is extended outwardly to afford a mounting portion 25 that is annular or circularv in character and which terminates in a downwardly extended flange 26 as will be evident in Fig. 3 of the drawings. The flange 26 is so located that it extends across and beneath, and is integrally connected to, the lower edges of the walls 2t and thus these flanges serve to reenforce the body iii. The mounting portion 25 has fiat upper surfaces 27 formed thereon at opposite sides of the lower ends of the walls 2%, and it is in the areas thus provided that the fastening means such as the screw devices It are located. For this purpose, a bore 28 is extended downwardly 3 through the mounting portion 25 and centrally of each of the flat surfaces 21 so that fastening devices such the screw devices l may be extended through such bores 28 in a manner that will hereinafter be described in detail.

The slide i2, is also formed as a casting, and at its forward end this casting has an upstanding arm 33 at the upper end of which the movable jaw i3 is formed, and the casting extends rearwardly to provide an arm l2A that is slidably related to the body it). In affording such slidable interrelationship of the arm 52A and the body It, the arm 82A is formed so as to have two downwardly and outwardly extending walls 32 that are joined at their upper ends so as to be of a substantially inverted V-shaped form. The size of the arm HA is such that this arm may extend inwardly and means are afforded on the casting or base iii to afford a slideway for the arm i2rt. Thus, as will be evident in Figs. 1, 3, 4 and 5, the casting that affords the base 19 has a pair of inturned flanges 3 3 formed at the lower ends or edges of the walls 26 near the forward portions thereof, and the flanges 34 have bearing lugs 35 extended upwardly in a slight amount therefrom near the rear end thereof, as shown in Fig. 5. The forward ends of the walls 28 are joined together only near their lower edges, such joinder being accomplished by the mounting flange 26 at the two places where it extends beneath these walls, and adjacent the forward end of the walls a transverse web 35 is associated with the flange 26 so as to afford bearing surfaces 37 on its upper surface. AS will be evident in Fig. 5, the web 36 is formed so as to overlie'the forward portion of the flange so as to be supported by this flange, and the lower edges of each of the walls 32 of the arm i2A have longitudinally extending flat bearing surfaces 32A formed thereon which ride upon the bearing surfaces and 3? that are thus provide-ti in the base. The opposed bearing surfaces 32A and and 3? thus position the slide or arm i2A in a vertical sense, and the slide is also engaged laterally so as to be guided in this respect. Thus the walls 2:? are extended inwardly at their forward ends to afford flanges that have bearing surfaces 39 formed thereon, whileat the rear ends of the flanges 3t and in alignment with the bearing surfaces 35, the walls 253 have inwardly extended flanges that afford bearing surfaces fill. Thus the arm or slide IZA is engaged at spaced points so as to be accurately guided, and in this respect it will be observed that the bearing surfaces 39 and 423 face inwardly and downwardly so as to maintain the slide against vertical displacement away from the bearing Surfaces 35 or 3'].

The screw device M whereby the slide I2 is actuated towards its clamped position is in the present case in the form of a screw 4i that has a retaining washer 42 near its forward end, and the forward end of the screw 4! is extended through an opening 33 in the forward portion of the slide l2 so that this forward end extends beyond the forward end of the casting that affords the slide it. A head :35 is fixed on the extending end of the screw 65 by means such as a pin :15, and a cross bar 36 is provided in the head 3 3 whereby the screw ii may be rotated. The washer 32 and the head maintain the screw 3: in a fixed longitudinal position with respect to the slide l2, and means are provided in association with the body It whereby rotation of the screw M is effective to move the slide 52 in a clamping direction.

The screw ll is extended rearwardly through a substantial portion of the slide 2 and is engaged throughout a substantial portion of its length by positioning surfaces 53 that are afforded on inwardly extended longitudinal ribs i?! that are formed on the inner surfaces of the walls 32 of the slide. lilies-e bearing surfaces dB, Fig. 3, are generally arcuate in form and are faced generally downwardly, and means are pr vided on the base to serve as a out which engages the exposed lower face of the screw ii so as to enable actuation of the slide lilI-i to be effected. The means that are thus utilized to cooperate with the screw All are of the general character disclosed in the copending Sasgen application Serial No. 693,979, filed July 9, 1945, now Patent No. 2,445,188, but it will be observed that such means are located in a different and more protected position in the present instance. Thus the means that are employed in the vise herein disclosed comprise a bell crank 55 that is medially pivoted at 5'28 on a pivot pin that extends between two forwardly extending lugs 57, such lugs being formed as forward ex tensions of the cross member 3d. The bell crank 55 has one arm 55A that extends downwardly beyond'the lugs 57 so as to afford an operating handle, while the other arm 55B of the bell crank has screw threads 58 formed thereon for engagement with the downwardly facing surfaces of the threads of the screw 4!. The bell crank 55 is normally urged in a counterclockwise direction, Fig. 6, by a spring 59 that acts between the arm 55B and the cross member 35, and this tends to engage the threads 58 with the screw ti. It will be observed that the point of engagement of the threads 53 with the screw ti is located upwardly and rearwardly with respect to the pivotal axis 55 so that when the screw 6! is rotated in a clamping direction, the forces applied to the threads 58 will be in a forward direction such as will tend to more firml engage the threads 58 with the screw ll, and the upwardly directed forces that are thus produced on the screw il are resisted by the downwardly facing bearing surfaces 48 that are formed on the ribs Q9 of the slide. With the releasable nut that is thus provided, an operator of the vise may attain a quick clamping action in respect to a workpiece by first releasing the nut by means of the handle 55A, thus to en'- able the slide to be quickly withdrawn to an extent that is more than sufficient to enable the workpiece to be put in position between the jaws II and it. Such withdrawing movement is assisted by a spring fit, Fig. i, that is connected at its opposite ends to lugs and 6| A provided respectively on the rear end of the slide l2 and on one of the webs 34. The user allows the slide l2 to be drawn forwardly in a work disengaging direction by the spring 66 until the jaw [3 is withdrawn from the work piece, after which the handle 55 is released so as to engage the threads 58 of the nut with the threads of the screw E1, the previous work piece is removed and a new work piece inserted in the desired position, and the vise may then be securely clamped by a relatively slight rotation of the screw in a clamping direction. In this connection it will be ob served that the threads l and 58 as embodied in the form shown in Figs. 1 toS are of square cross section, but if desired, the threads may be made of angular or standard form as disclosed in the aforesaid copending application.

The annular or circular mounting flange 26 is adapted to be positioned either on the base I5, or directly on a work bench, as; shown in Fig, 8 of the drawings, and when the flange I5 is placed directly on the surface of a work bench, the vise may be secured in a fixed position on the work bench by means such as cap screws "SB, Fig. 8, that are extended through the openings 28.

When the body of the vise is to be mounted for rotative adjustment about a vertical axis, the

, flange 25 is placed in position on an upwardly facing annular bearing surface '62 of the mounting base 55 so that the body It] of the vise may be rotatively supported on this annular bearing surface 52. Inwardly of the bearing surface 62, an upstanding guide flange 83 is provided that is annular in character and is concentric with the bearing surface 62, and it will be observed in Fig. 3 of the drawings, that the base i5 is in the form of an annular and substantially vertical ring iEA that is extended inwardly at its upper edge as at flange IEB to afford the bearing surface 52 and the upstanding guide flange 63. At its innermost end, the horizontal flange l5B has a downwardly facing abutment surface 65 that is annular in character and this abutment surface serves as a part of the means whereby the base lli of the vise is secured in any adjusted rotative position on the base [5. In accomplishing such securing of the body 10 on the base I5, an elongated rectangular clamping bar 55 is disposed beneath the flange l5B so that its opposite ends are located beneath the annular surface 65, and the clamping devices are associated with the bar 66 so that the bar may be drawn upwardly into firm clamping engagement with the surface 65. In accomplishing this, the screw devices 16 are in the form of screws having enlarged heads i'fiA and these screws are extended downwardly through the bores 28 and are threaded into suitabie threaded openings in the bar 66. IEA of the screw devices It have cross bars lGB slidably mounted therein so that the screw devices It may be readily operated to clamp the cross bar 56 against the annular retaining surface 65. The base I5 is adapted to be secured in a fixed position on a bench or the like by cap screws 88 extended through lugs 69 that project radially from the fiange l5A of the base H5 at spaced points thereabout.

With the construction that is thus afforded in the embodiment of the invention shown in Figs. 1 to 8, the vise may be constructed in a standard model that is adapted to be mounted on a work bench in a fixed position as shown in Fig. 8, or may be mounted for rotative adjustment by associating the base It with a mounting base i5 through the use of a clamping bar 65 and the screw devices l 6. Thus the problem of inventory is materially simplified through the use of the present invention. It will also be evident that the vise of the present invention is extremely rugged in character in that the material that is utilized in the formation of the parts serves effectively to impart strength to the parts of the vise.

Thus, while we have illustrated and described the preferred embodiments of our invention, it is to be understood that these are capable of variation and modification and we therefore do not wish to be limited to the precise details set forth, but desire to avail ourselves of such changes and alternations as fall within the purview of the following claims.

The heads We claim: a

1. In a vise, a body having elongated walls arranged in an inverted V-shaped relationship and having internal bearing surfaces defining a slideway, means on a forward end of said body affording a stationary jaw, a mounting portion rigid with said body and connecting said walls at spaced points along their lower edges, a slide having a movable jaw thereon and having an arm formed in'an inverted V-shaped cross section so as to be open along its lower edge, said arm being slidably mounted in said slideway for movement of said movable jaw toward and away from said stationary jaw, a clamping screw rotatably mounted so as to extend longitudinally into said inverted V-shaped portion of said slide and held against longitudinal displacement with respect to said slide, means affording opposed downwardly facing bearing surfaces within said slide and engaging upper surfaces of said screw, a pair of spaced lugs extended forwardly from a forward part of said mounting portion, and means constituting a releasable nut pivoted on a horizontal axis between said lugs and extended upwardly and rearwardly through the open lower edge of said arm so as to engage said clamping screw.

2. In a vise, a body having elongated walls arranged in an inverted V -shaped relationship and having internal bearing surfaces defining a slideway, means on a forward end of said body affording a stationary jaw, a mounting portion rigid with said body and connecting said walls at spaced points along their lower edges, a slide having a movable jaw thereon and having an arm formed in an inverted V-sha-ped cross secso as to be open along its lower edge, said arm being slidably mounted in said slideway for movement of said movable jaw toward and away from said stationary jaw, a clamping screw rotatably mounted so as to extend longitudinally into said inverted V-shaped portion of said slide and held against longitudinal displacement with respect to said slide, a pair of spaced lugs extended forwardly from a forward part of said mounting portion, and means constituting a reieasa-ble nut pivoted on a horizontal axis between said lugs and extended upwardly and rearwardly through the open lower edge of said arm so as to engage said clamping screw.

3. In a vise, a body having elongated walls arranged in an inverted V-shaped relationship, means on the forward end of said body affording a stationary jaw, a mounting member rigid with said body and having two portions connecting said walls at spaced points along their lower edges, an elongated web member mounted on one of said portions of said mounting member, means, including said web, mounted on said body member and aifording upwardly facing bearing surfaces disposed in a common horizontal plane azong the lower edge portions of said walls in spaced relation to each other, a slide havingv a movable jaw and having an arm comprising elongated walls arranged in an inverted V-shape so that said arm is open along its lower edge, said slide being slidably mounted in said body with the lower edge portions of said walls of said slide mounted on said bearing surfaces in saidbody member so that movement of said movable jaw toward and away from said stationary jaw may be effected, a clamping screw mounted longitudinally in said slide for rotative movement with respect thereto but held against longitudinal displacement with respect to said slide, and means comprising a releasable nut pivotally mounted on said mounting member-at the. for- Ward end portion. of said body and extending upwardly and rearwardly through the open lower end of said slide, said nut having a forwardly projecting handle on the lower portion thereof for moving said nut into and out of engagement with said screw.

ANTHONY M. SASGEN. FRED P HOPFELD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patenti Number Number 8 UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Clark Mar. 16, 1858 Baylies Mar. 9, 1875 Blake June 6, 1882 Morris Nov. 20, 1883 Cash Mar. 29, 1892 Mulford May 30, 1893 Carpenter Oct. 23, 1894 Taylor Apr. 25, 1905 Broadbooks May 21, 1907 Angus July 22, 1913 Gordon Oct. 12, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date France July 5, 1937 

